Nutritional and Functional Status as a Predictor of Short-Term Mortality in Hospitalized Elderly Patients in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Context Elderly people are at a high risk of malnutrition leading to poor outcomes and quality of life. Aims We aimed to find an association between the nutritional and functional status of hospitalized elderly patients and the three-month all-cause mortality among them. Settings and design A cross-sectional study was carried out at a tertiary care hospital in North India from July 2018 to December 2019. Methods and material A total of 177 patients were recruited for the study, and their demographic and clinical data were collected on a preformed questionnaire. Comorbidity, nutritional status, functional status, and depression were calculated using the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) form, Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (Katz ADL), and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), respectively. Statistical analysis A Chi-square test was used to find the association between different qualitative variables. A regression model was used to find out the odds for mortality. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Results According to the MNA score, 49.7% (88) were at risk of malnutrition, and 22.6%(40) were malnourished. Malnutrition, Charlson Comorbidity Index, and the functional status of the patients were found to be associated with three-month mortality, with a p value of 0.005, 0.017, and 0.021, respectively. On regression analysis, malnutrition (odds ratio (OR): 3.796; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.178-12.234; p=0.025) and the functional status (OR: 3.160; 95% CI: 1.256-7.952; p=0.015) of the study participants were found to have higher odds for three-month all-cause mortality. Conclusions Nutritional status and ADL assessed at the time of discharge are good prognostic markers of health outcomes in the elderly population. Key message ADL and nutritional assessment at admission and discharge should be routinely incorporated in the geriatric assessment of hospitalized patients to triage and prognosticate.